


Just Wanna Be With You

by pinchess07



Series: Take Care of My Fragile Little Heart [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Don't worry he comes back, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Graves Lives, Graves worries, M/M, Newt flees, Pining, so much pining it's like a forest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 03:13:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9104203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinchess07/pseuds/pinchess07
Summary: For a prompt at the km:“If you love something, set it free. If it comes back it was always yours. If it doesn't, it never was.”Percival loves Newt but soon realises he can't cage him or Newt will wilt like a flower. So even though it almost destroys him, he lets him go. Newt, for probably the first time ever feeling safe (aside from his family), comes back.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'ed.

Newt takes in the state of the bathroom sink.  
  
A pair of toothbrushes lean against each other in a cup. Next to the cup, a straight razor that Percival says he's owned since he came of age is lying on its side.  
  
There's also Dougal's hair brush and various solid and liquid soaps that Newt had develop for Dougal and the rest of his furry beasts, as different beasts needed different soap formulas as he learned early on, if he wanted to keep them from stinking up the place.  
  
Percival's shampoo and soap is in the small cabinet above the sink. Newt's been given permission to use it, and he has.  
  
Beside the shampoo, there are potion vials and jars containing things like Newt's murtlap's essence.  
  
The towel stack on the side bench has grown exponentially, at first only having Percival's monogrammed one, but now it has several more, courtesy of Newt and his beasts.  
  
He wonders how long it'll take Percival to be offended at the growing invasion of space.  
  
He glances out the small bathroom window. The sky is a clear blue.  
  
\--  
  
The living room slowly but surely accumulates clutter. There's a precarious stack of loot that his niffler refuses to move in one corner. Newt's tried moving it all back to his case several times. It makes a reappearance in just a few hours.  
  
A few of the teapots from the kitchen have migrated next to the fireplace, but not too close. The occamies cry pitifully whenever he tries to move them away.  
  
There's an actual nest under the small table. The diricawls protect it fiercely from his attempts to relocate it.  
  
The small table itself is permanently buried under Newt's messy stack of parchment. Percival jokes that he's never gonna see the granite table top ever again.  
  
A sofa crease has formed for Catherine the mooncalf. Newt doesn't even know how she learned to climb the couch. Once Percival sits down on the couch, Catherine would snuggle up beside him within minutes.  
  
He wonders when Percival would grow tired of it all.   
  
Beyond the living room window, the sky is a cloudy gray.  
  
\--  
  
He wakes in Percival's arms. It's warm and safe and there's dread in the pit of his stomach.   
  
He's never been this happy. His clothes are mixed with Percival's in the dresser. The bed smells of both of them, a heady mix of home and safety and peace.   
  
He feels so anxious. He can't help waiting for the other shoe to drop.   
  
The glass panes of the bedroom window are closed. He can only see vague, dark shapes outside.  
  
\--  
  
He can hear the pouring rain as he shakily reads a letter from Theseus. His nundu, graphorns, erumpent and mooncalves are all back inside his case for the day.  
  
"What did Theseus say?" Percival asks. He's nuzzling into Newt's neck and cradling Newt in his arms on their bed. Newt lets himself savor the feeling. He feels their time together flowing through his fingers like water, trickling down to nothing.  
  
"There...There's something about grindylows," Newt starts. A lump has formed in his throat and he swallows around it.   
  
"Well. That's vague," Percival notes. Newt can't bear to look at him.   
  
"I'm leaving in the morning," Newt whispers. If Percival wasn't so close, he wouldn't have heard it.   
  
Newt waits tensely.  
  
Percival's arms tighten around him for a few moments before loosening.   
  
Percival sounds wrecked when he speaks. "I see. Do you know how long you'll take?"  
  
Newt shakes his head mutely.   
  
"I... I'd never force you to stay, Newt. You know that, don't you? But I'll miss you," Percival states quietly.   
  
This time Newt nods. He doesn't have the courage to say anything else. He can't say that he wants to stay for as long as Percival can stand him. He thinks that no matter where he goes, his heart will always be here.  
  
He clings to Percival tightly when he sleeps that night.  
  
\--  
  
In the morning, Percival startles awake, shivering in the cold morning air. Some snowflakes are even drifting in. He remembers closing it the night before, and gets up to close it, before he _notices_.  
  
Newt often wakes before him, so he doesn't think anything of it when he wakes alone.  
  
However, Newt's night robe is not hanging on the bedroom door, where Newt usually hangs it after changing into proper clothes.  
  
Percival runs to the kitchen, but he doesn't outrun the feeling of devastation that descends upon him. There's a plate of food under a warming charm waiting for him and he couldn't care less. Newt is nowhere to be found.   
  
The living room is barren. He hurries outside, _hoping--_  
  
The grounds are devoid of life.   
  
He stumbles back inside in a daze. He knows he wouldn't change what he told Newt if given the chance to do it again, but he didn't think it would be _like this._  
  
Unrelenting loneliness sinks into the spaces of his heart where Newt had once burrowed in.  
  
It feels like parts of his life had been ripped out, and it's ten times as devastating because Newt was the one who did it.   
  
\--  
  
He goes to work because he doesn't want to stay in his empty house.   
  
\--  
  
He goes back to eating takeout and he hates it with a passion. He considers learning to cook, but he can't take a single step into the kitchen without losing his nerve. Newt is _not_ there. He suffers through crappy takeout.  
  
\--  
  
_How long before he could send Newt a letter without being seen as clingy?_  
  
\--  
  
Goldstein corners him one afternoon.   
  
"Did you and Newt have a fight?" she demands. "You've got a veritable cloud of misery hanging about you. The rest of the Aurors are planning on using Cheering Charms on you, that's how concerned they've been. _We've_ been."  
  
"No. I think I would prefer that, actually. At least he'll still be here," Percival mutters. Goldstein's eyes widen.  
  
"He left?"  
  
"I wasn't keeping him here against his will. He could go when he wishes, and he did!" Percival adds sharply.  
  
Goldstein looks guiltily back at him. "That's not what I meant, Percival, I swear. But I don't understand why you're so... He _is_ coming back, isn't he?"  
  
"I asked him, but he said he doesn't know how long it'll take him," Percival offers.  
  
"That's not so bad, I think--"  
  
Percival cuts her off. "He took all his things with him. Everything. Not even a single diricawl feather was left behind."   
  
"...Ah."  
  
They lapse into silence.  
  
Goldstein squeezes his arm tentatively. "He'll be back, you'll see. He was _happy._ You both were."  
  
"I really hope you're right. Thank you, Goldstein," Percival says.  
  
"Tina," she corrects.   
  
"Fine. Tina."  
  
\--  
  
He only lasts six days before he sends Newt a letter. It's not about anything important. He doesn't mention that his bathroom sink has never been so clean. He doesn't mention that he's not sleeping well.  
  
He asks how the grindylows are.  
  
\--  
  
His Aurors cajole him into a drinking night. He thinks of diricawls that aren't causing chaos in the stairs.  
  
He accepts and swears he's never doing it again in the morning after.  
  
\--  
  
The other Goldstein drops a bag of pastry in his desk.   
  
"I think it'll cheer you up!" she chirps. He looks up from his mountain of paperwork blearily. "Go on, open it!"  
  
He does. An occamy looks back at him. He wonders whether he's dreaming, whether he'd fallen asleep on his desk.  
  
"No, silly. Go on, take a bite, it tastes even better than it looks!" She urges.  
  
Wonder of wonders, it really does.  
  
"Kowalski Bakery," she answers before Percival can even say a single word. "I'll show you where it is!"  
  
\--  
  
His life continues on bleakly, although he does become a regular at Kowalski's.  
  
He wastes an insane amount of time wondering whether Newt will ever write back to him.   
  
\--  
  
Newt has Percival's letter laying flat on his desk. He must have penned at least fifty replies by now, as evidenced by the crumpled parchment littering the floor.   
  
As of the moment, he's sitting on the bed of Theseus' guest room.   
  
He's out of tears. He could have filled a small bowl with how much tears he'd spilled upon arriving here, missing Percival like a lost limb.  
  
He's finished dealing with the grindylows. He could have gone back after the first week, truthfully.   
  
He's simply scared. He doesn't know if Percival will welcome him back, given he left without saying goodbye.   
  
Percival didn't mention anything about it in his letter.   
  
There's a knock on the door before Theseus pokes his head inside.  
  
"Still moping?"  
  
Newt huffs. Theseus rolls his eyes.   
  
"Little brother, I love you, but you're so infuriatingly stupid sometimes. You're here pining your days away when you can go take that portkey back. You're obviously packed and ready to go, but you keep _waffling_ about! Get a grip, man!"  
  
"You make it sound so simple," Newt notes, smiling faintly.  
  
"Because it _is._ Go and ask him if he wants you back. In person. You've wasted enough parchment, judging by the looks of it."  
  
Newt opens his mouth to reply, but Theseus cuts him off. " _Go._ It'll be fine. Apologize for leaving abruptly, hell, blame me if you want. He'll forgive you and take you back. He's that kind of person, I think. He forgave the idiots in MACUSA after all, and their offense was way worse than yours."  
  
\--  
  
"--eseus was being an asshole, he didn't take the time difference into account, I'm so sorry I didn't come back earlier, I was scared that you'd be too angry--"  
  
Percival shuts Newt up with a kiss. Newt melts into his arms.  
  
"Next time don't pack everything up and leave without telling me," Percival demands. Newt nods and buries his head in Percival's chest.  
  
"Next time, _write,_ Newt. I need you to write me back. Please," Percival pleads. Newt nods again.  
  
"And next time, talk to me if something's bothering you. I'm not like Queenie. I can't always guess what you're thinking. Promise me, Newt," Percival says. He tips Newt's head up by the chin so their eyes meet.  
  
"I promise," Newt whispers. Percival hugs him tenderly.  
  
"...Let's unpack your babies. The couch is starting to forget Catherine's shape."  
  
Newt beams. "We can't have that. And did you just say Queenie? Did you make friends while I was gone?"  
  
"She has excellent taste in pastries," Percival admits. "And that Kowalski's not a bad fellow."  
  
Newt's jaw drops in surprise. "You've met Jacob?"  
  
"A lot happened," Percival explains without explaining anything at all. Newt's gonna bug him about it for the rest of the night and Percival couldn't be happier.

**Author's Note:**

> I wonder if I got it right? Is is too OOC? I'd love to know what you think!


End file.
